


Whiskey Lullaby

by murielofdelphi



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Clint Has Issues, Dysfunctional Relationships, Established Relationship, F/M, Fury didn't tell them after the battle that Coulson survived, Gen, Going to Hell, Ignoring Agents of SHIELD, Implied Relationships, It never happened, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-12-08
Updated: 2014-09-24
Packaged: 2018-01-03 23:51:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 922
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1074514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/murielofdelphi/pseuds/murielofdelphi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nick Fury faked Coulson's death, what he forgot to do was tell them in the end, when Phil realizes this he goes home only to find it abandoned. In the five months that he spent in Tahiti, Clint has moved on.</p><p>Phil hasn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Battle is Over

**Author's Note:**

> Situation Prompt: A solider comes home an is now isolated from the community.  
> A never honored hero Just because he was way and thought to be doesn’t mean you can frick his brother.
> 
> Choosing to ignore that last part (though now I want to do one for Daryl and Merel, oh what ever I'm doing it, I'll post it next and bounce in between all these). This challenge was posted by prompts-for-your-fanfic.tumblr.com, so I took it. 
> 
> you'll notice I really like clint and phil, there perfect even when its really just a bromance.

Coulson remembers the pain of his recovery. He remembers worrying about Clint, and hoping he wasn't making himself sick, he hoped Natasha was watching over him. He remembers being so worried for his Husband. Bad enough he had been mind controlled by Loki and would be guilty about that, but now his partner was under heavy medical evaluations and treatment.

He bet Fury didn't even tell them that he was fine, to ignore the medical jargon, that he was breathing and recovering. 

Mostly though, he just laid in the bed and dreamed of Clint snuggling into him while he watched Super Nanny.

That was the first couple months.

Then he began bugging Fury and Hill about Clint and the rest of the Avengers. Asking why none of them hadn't dropped by. Not even flowers from Stark's secretary Miss Potts'. They managed to distract him for another month, and he was so drugged up on pain medication that he hadn't noticed. 

Then the fourth month began. Fury kept dropping hints about getting him a new team, his own HQ so he could complete missions, and then handing him brand new Captain America cards; all of them signed. His suspicions were piqued. 

"Where are my old cards?"

"Those are mint condition, still in there packaging!" Fury had said. 

But Phil kept asking until Fury told him that they had gotten blood on them after Loki had stabbed him. It took him a week to remember he had left them in his locker.


	2. Coming Home to an Empty House

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Phil tells Fury No, and walks.

Fury was telling him about his new team again, giving him a list of names to choose from, when Phil demanded to know what he had done.

"Your now a level seven secret...no one, except a few people know you survived." Fury explained gruffly.

Phil watched him silently as he thought over this, "You didn't tell them, did you?" Phil asked, but he didn't accuse his long time friend and boss. Fury didn't answer, he didn't have to. 

"Now, back to Agent Ward--"

"No." Coulson said.

Fury paused, watching him with his lone eye; he wasn't mad like he was when Rogers had called him out for building weapons, wasn't annoyed like he always was with Stark, he seemed like he expected it. "You sure about that, Phil? Barton is not the same, he's moved on, you could break him."

"He's my Husband, you broke him when you lied to him, I'll fix him. I've done it before, I can do it again, I don't want another team." Phil said.

Fury let him walk away, told him if he changed his mind, the offer was still on the table. He left the Hellcarrier and was dropped off in middle town New York, several blocks away from Stark tower and the Battles wake of destruction.  But when he unlocked the door and stepped inside his home, he felt a piece of his heart break slightly, there was a fine layer of dust settled over the barren floors. 

He'd walked around, checked every room, all the furniture except for the queen sized bed in the main bedroom was gone. Fury had told him that the Avengers were all living in the Tower. He guessed that Clint had moved in, hopefully putting everything away in storage. He walked back outside and knocked on his neighbors door. Susanne was a nice old lady, she had loved making apple pies for Clint and Phil every friday, she had even watched thier golden retriever Russel.

A dog barked on his first knock, he heard the click-schnick noise of fur and claws padding across floorboards, followed by the soft pad of soft soaled feet.

Susanne opened the door, Russel jumped up to greet him happily, Susanne looked worried.

 


	3. Chapter 3

Susanne didn't have to tell him that Clint had moved out. Her shoulders were slumped, and there was a sad look in her eyes, as she poured them both some tea in her ancient gold rimmed china cups. "Clint was very upset, he didn't show it, but I could tell..." Susanne told him. "When he dropped off Clara, I thought...I'm not even sure what I thought. Are you two fighting?"

"No, Ma'am, I just returned from a mission over in Iraq, there was some mix up with communications when the unit I was with got hit," Susanne gasped when Phil told her his fabricated lie. "Oh, don't worry, everyone got out fine, and I wasn't even with them when it happened, but somehow they sent out the red cross already."

"Oh, that poor boy," Susanne cried, tears gathering in her eyes, her old hands shakily put down her cup. She kept her fingers loosely wrapped around the dish though, to give her old fingers warmth, and perhaps a semblance of comfort from the familiar heat. "I don't know where he went, he didn't say where he was going, nothing."

Phil gave her a reassuring smile. "You don't need to worry Susanne, I'll find him and we'll both be home again shortly. You don't mind watching Clara still, do you though? I can give you money for the expenses, for any of the trouble she's given you." 

Susanne batted her hand at him, chuckling warmly. "You know that its no trouble, Clara takes more care of me then I do for her most of the time. And my retirement check is more then enough to cover dog food." 

Susanne stood and walked him to the door, she sighed and grasped his hand, patting it lightly. "You bring your boy home,"

**Author's Note:**

> I'm doing a bunch of challenges to keep my self distracted from problems at home, I will not abandon any of these. but feel free to write your own if you want.
> 
> Oh, and I'm editing this chapter tomorrow, it will be longer and more info-y, but right now just want to post all my stuff and go to bed and then fix it. So if you like the idea, or are interested, put it down on your watch list or whatever so you'll get an alert when I repost tomorrow.


End file.
